Heart of the Matter Podcast: What will it take for people to stop littering and keep toilets clean?
Heavy fines and imposing corrective work orders may not be enough to deter offenders.
Feedback on littering offences has increased, and rat-related problems are on the rise. Coffee shop toilets continue to rate poorly. Will plans to increase surveillance and name and shame litterbugs work? How long can Singapore rely on an army of cleaners?
Steven Chia speaks to Andrew Khng, chairman of the Public Hygiene Council, Dr Serene Koh, director of The Behavioural Insights Team; and Rosie Ching, Principal Lecturer of Statistics from the Singapore Management University.   Â
Andrew Khng:Â Â
The average (age of a) local cleaner…is 70. And we have about 57,000 to 60,000 cleaners. Sometimes all these uncles, aunties…have aches and pains. So, don't be surprised (if) one day, they (don’t come) to work.
Rosie Ching:Â Â
What's of concern is that the closer these toilets are to the cooking facilities, the dirtier these toilets are (based on our study). That's of great concern for public sanitation.
Dr Serene Koh:Â Â
If we had one day where the cleaners did nothing - what would that version of Singapore look like? And that might be a wake-up call for us to say: 'It actually took us hundreds and thousands of cleaners who have done this, and we take them for granted.'
Jump to these key moments:
- 2:22 Dirty toilets in hawker centres and coffee shopsÂ
- 9:12 Location of toilets matters Â
- 13:29 What kind of deterrence will work? Â
- 17:44 Should families of offenders go for corrective work order? Â
- 19:02 What if our cleaners don’t show up for work?  Â
Source: CNA/cr
